Canteen

“Yeah, we did just stand by,” Alykka admits, “But it was a one-time show. Just wanted ya ta see how bad it was. Sometimes, show’n’tell’s the best and only way ta get to th’ gravity of th’ situation.”

She guides Atton to a chair and takes a seat herself. A waiter droid arrives, bringing plates of food. A holographic display of the menu shows over its head as it waits patiently for orders to be placed. Smiling, Alykka orders herself some Kentucky fried gizka, with a side order of fries, a soda nad gizka McNuggets. She then waits for Atton to make his orders before continuing to speak with him.

“Ah guess ya c’n see now jus’ ‘ow bad the understaffing situation’s made for us. We got more student’s than we got teachers and guides. Ah mean, Ann Chalinda, whatever she is, ain’t really great with personal interaction, and prefers ta just maintain da building an’ all. But word is, she’s older’n this planet or some such, so she ought to have some kinda knowledge, right?”

She flicks her hair back irritably, “Ah just ain’t a good teacher. Ah mean, Ah’m a mechanic and a pilot! Heh, but lo an’ behold, Ah’ve got me a personal lackey now, conpliments o’ the overload of students. Sorry if Ah’m ramblin’, but if yeh have any questions, please feel free to shut mah trap and ask away. Elsewise, Ah’ll bleed yer ears out with mah chattin’...”

Eyes that had obviously experienced far more loss and pain than one would ordinarily expect in one of Alexis' age, lifted from the amber depths of her drink and gazed levelly at the man who had just joined her. She blinked.

Ah, recent medical visit that from the looks of it he was still recovering from. I used the seconds bought by blinking to remember a wisp that had straggled by me in the midst of a nap on the way here: Kaelan. That was his name.

"Age is relative," an oddly calm voice informed him, dark eyebrow arching as she continued, "Master Kaelan." In this case, the title was an honorific. She wouldn't place him above 'Knight' level. His aura did not seem to fit with that attainment of ...experience? learning? wisdom? Still, historically within the Jedi Order, padawans traditionally referred to everyone higher than padawan ranking as 'Master.' Alexis Karidian deliberately took another sip of her drink. Then, holding up her left hand, preparatory to snapping her fingers to catch the bartender's attention she offered, "Care to join?" even though she expected him to decline.

"Fine," was Alexis one-word reply as she signaled the bartender anyway, finishing her drink and pushing the glass towards him for a refill. Just one more. Or maybe two. That would be appropriate. She eyed Kaelan closely, assessing his physical symptoms with the air of one who looked deeper than the surface. "So, what happened to you?" she riposted deftly as her glass was returned, filled to the brim and topped with a nice head of delicious foam. She raised her glass silently to the universe and then took a deep, appreciative drink.

Kaelan was being stoic with an intensity that was clearly studied and intentional. She reached up and brushed her hair back behind her right ear with one hand, setting down her glass with a quiet clink! with her other hand. She could also tell he was discomfited by how she had addressed him, there was a slight flicker as a muscle in his neck involuntarily tensed and relaxed.

I couldn't explain how I knew, but I had just lost what meant more to me than 'home.' Instead of being tied to a location for me 'home' tended to travel around rather than remain in a fixed temporal location. It probably had to do with my upbringing on Nar Shaddaa as a refugee. But it had been impressed on me at a very early age that physical possessions were fragile and far easier to destroy than more intangible ones. As a result I tended to form very deep personal attachments. Not easily. Not to many people. But, now that I had lost the one I relied on the most, I realized even more how much it had meant to me. Despite our 'rivalry'... maybe in spite of it... and there was something I had never said. Not once---

Alexis blinked furiously. "I am the last Dragon..." her tone was filled with dull finality. Saying it made it seem more real. "And thirsty," she added quickly. She had more now than she'd had previously in life, to wit: her starfighter and astromech.

"Actually---" long eyelashes veiled her eyes for a moment before meeting his gaze directly, "You're about to make a big mistake." Suiting her actions to her words, she redirected his glass of ale and placed it aside from her left elbow on the counter. She did not wish to have to make an emergency visit to the infirmary. In her experience that was not a good way to become acquainted with the environment or residents in any given location, though to be sure it did tend to break down boundaries speedily.

I am not a child. Not anymore. Not that I ever really was one. Fear destroys the mind. It is a path to the dark side. I will face my fear and I will not run away. I will turn my inner eye to follow its path. Where it has gone, there will be nothing.  Only I will remain. I am not the person I used to be. This time I will make my decisions.

Under Dav's mentoring her nightmares and visions had largely ceased being the bane of her existence. He had taught her to use the Force to protect herself. And she was determined not to go backwards.

Her spine inexplicably straightened under Kaelan's gaze, shoulders back she met his smirk calmly and replied with the wisdom of the generations that had walked another path before her, "What one does not know is often the most deadly. Lack of knowledge produces ignorance." Her fingers tapped the delicate stem of her half-empty glass, contents ignored for now. "Ignorance leads to fear, and fear kills from within. Not once, but many times. Over and over and over again."

The last Dragon---Alexis mind replayed a memory, flashing before her Yavin Station and an obstacle course set up through an asteroid field dropping toward one of Yavin's moons: the anticipation, the eagerness, the fear of failing... and then the joy of flying, the forgetting of self in the race. She smiled sadly, then inquired, "What do you know of the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, Master Kaelan?"

"Not really," she answered his question even though he made it seem rhetorical. "The universe is as big as we make it." She picked up her glass and eyed him through the lens of the amber liquid housed within it, left eyelid closed right eye distorted by the fluid. Alternatively, it could be as small as one made it as well. She was making it smaller now by visiting Honoghr.

She took a leisurely sip, then inquired curiously, "But what have you heard?" She didn't expect a lot, but something was more to go on than nothing. Pretty much every Jedi had at least some idea of Yavin. It was a place of historical significance, and it was legendary within the Jedi Order. Besides, this stratagem would buy her time and perhaps it would be easier to speak of Yavin after hearing someone else talk about it.

"One day?" Alexis didn't bother with trying to conceal her surprise. Maybe he needed help. Judging from his attitude, air of confidence/bravado that potentially was a mask, she thought he was originally from Corellia. But, that could be just an impression. She was not at this point specifically trying to figure him out. "What is your story then? Former Sith Lord?" Her left eyebrow arched steeply, but she smiled warmly.

She felt the shift in room temperature as he stopped being annoyed, though perhaps he had merely shifted to apathetic. "It isn't that I won't talk about it, Master Kaelan." Alexis considered calmly, running her finger lazily around the rim of her glass. "But perhaps I need help?" She was surprised she'd had to bring this out into the open this blatantly as Jedi were supposedly in tune with the feelings of those around them. Naturally that could be an empathic nuance.

I could have said "I know" but I didn't. Even though Jedi are supposed to be open-minded in terms of the Force and how it manifests itself to individual Jedi, some of them are still thrown off-guard by those who have been gifted/cursed with precognition. Nathan understood. Dav understood. Joshua's life had been saved by it, and the two of us had the inexplicable beginnings of a strong Force Bond. But, a lot of people are put off by it. And if I'm honest, I'd have to admit that meeting someone like me, would be unnerving on a good day, probably terrifying on a bad one.

Alexis smiled enigmatically. "You also look in need of help. That is help not found at the bottom of a bottle or glass." So saying, she finished the last of her drink and pondered the galaxy in her fingertips. Her thoughts were beginning to feel a bit woozy and smooshed together. She looked back up at him, noting the depths of shadow lurking under his stoic expression, particularly about the eyes which seemed a shade hollow. "Yeah, you could say so. Yavin 4's Praxeum was under siege by the Mandalorians, but everything went wrong. Dragon Squadron as such is nonexistent now. I was on Dressel." Perhaps her biggest disappointment was that she had never gotten to say goodbye to Dav. There was so much that she had not said, and now she'd never have the opportunity to fix that. She still found it hard to believe that the legendary Jedi x-wing squadron was gone. She'd fought so hard to be a part of it, and the day she'd passed Dav's final flight test and been given her own fighter and astromech was the proudest of her life so far.

"Yeah." There wasn't really anything else to say about it right now. Alexis didn't want to dwell on it here. If anything untoward happened, like her breaking down and crying, she'd much rather not be in public.

She took the smallest of sips of the third glass of ale. The two empty ones were lined up near her elbow. When she looked back over at Kaelan, he seemed a bit blurry around the edges. But, she knew he wasn't a hologram.

"So... what now? You involved in the war?" She'd hopped in to Yavin, briskly explored, and flown offworld even faster after a small brush with a Mandalorian patrol. Their idea of redecorating the interior of the Praxeum left much to be desired in her opinion.